Buy a kid lunch this summer.

El Dorado LunchBox needs your help to provide 4000 free meals for children this summer.

The Storandts

Hunger doesn’t take a vacation when school is out in the summer.

During the school year, meals are provided to El Dorado students through the school-based breakfast and lunch program, and the Kansas Food Bank’s weekend backpack program, Food4Kids. These programs generally are available only during the school year.

This year will be different, and you can help.

El Dorado LunchBox is a community partnership between:

El Dorado Schools (USD490), eldoradoschools.org

Kansas Food Bank, kansasfoodbank.org

Kids Need to Eat (KN2E), kidsneedtoeat.org

In June, free breakfast and lunch will be served to all students enrolled in the El Dorado School’s Summer Academy as part of the school program.

During July and the first two weeks of August, free sack lunches will be distributed to all children in El Dorado under age 18. This includes daily lunches, Monday - Thursday, and Weekend Foodpacks to take home on Thursdays.

Over the summer, 4000 free sack lunches will be distributed to children in our community.

Childhood hunger due to food insecurity = not enough food for a healthy life.

 1 out of 5 children in our community are living with food insecurity.

 Kansas has the 7th highest percentage of residents cutting back on the quantity and quality of food, or skipping meals entirely.

 Over 58 % of students in El Dorado Schools (USD 490) qualify for free and reduced price meals -- that’s about 1200 students living in economically disadvantaged households.

Why so many hungry children in our community?

 Nearly a third of working families earn wages so low that they struggle to pay for basic necessities.

 Many households are one medical emergency away from poverty.

 There is a shortage of unskilled jobs that hire full time workers.

Why is this is a public health issue that affects us all?

 Growing children are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of inadequate food.

 Hunger affects physical, cognitive and behavioral development.

*Notes:

• Kids Need To Eat was created to assists communities in understanding and overcoming barriers to all children having daily access to the nutritious food needed for their brains and bodies to develop into successful adults. It is an all-volunteer non-profit organization, and its non-profit status is pending.

• Food insecurity refers to a household’s lack of access to adequate food - bottom line: not enough suitable food to eat. • The childhood food insecurity rate in Kansas is 22.7%. Butler County and the City of El Dorado have a similar or higher rate.

• The Food Stamp Program is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and is administered in Kansas by the Dept. for Families & Children (DCF)